Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 349

He Yuzhu immediately felt that finding Liu Haizhong was better than finding Yi Zhonghai.

Liu Haizhong spoke first: "What a rare guest, Zhu Zi. It feels like it's been a long time since I've seen you."

"Uncle Liu, what are you saying? I came here just a couple of days ago, but I didn't see you."

"Is that so? What a coincidence."

As Liu Haizhong was talking, he tried to walk towards the backyard, but He Yuzhu stopped him.

"Uncle Liu, I have something I want to ask you."

"whats the matter?"

"Who in the steel rolling mill has the best lathe operator skills and can even teach apprentices?"

Why did you suddenly ask about this? Is someone looking for Master?

"No, it's like this."

He Yuzhu then told them about the establishment of a machinery factory in the neighborhood. This wasn't a secret; the neighborhood had already issued a notice that they would soon be screening employees willing to become apprentices.

It's just that Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong are at work every day and haven't received this news yet.

"You mean they found more than 20 lathes on the street? And all sorts of them?"

He Yuzhu nodded, then told them about the street's search for several craftsmen. Liu Haizhong was a blacksmith, and He Yuzhu asked him because he was familiar with the workers in the steel rolling mill and wanted him to recommend some.

"This is not a good matter. It's impossible to get them to transfer from the steel mill to your machinery factory, since this is a large enterprise."

He Yuzhu understood, of course, and said, "I just want to know which people have better hand skills and are more patient in teaching apprentices, and can produce good apprentices."

After consulting with Tong Zhi, He Yuzhu abandoned the idea of ​​directly poaching people, but only wanted to find a few people to be transferred over and then train a bunch of apprentices.

Even if these people can only perform the most basic processing, as long as the machines are running and generating profits, that's fine.

You can learn the skills gradually and then practice more later.

Liu Haizhong hesitated and said, "This is a long story, and it can't be explained in just a few words."

He Yuzhu said, "I'll prepare a few dishes in a bit. Uncle Liu, come over, and we can chat while we drink?"

Liu Haizhong had been thinking about this for a long time; he had wanted to taste He Yuzhu's cooking, but he had never had the chance before.

"Okay, I'll go home first."

After seeing Liu Haizhong off, He Yuzhu entered the house, and He Daqing asked, "Why didn't you ask me about this?"

Do you know which of them is better at cooking? Or do you know which one is better at teaching apprentices?

"this?"

He Daqing was speechless. Although he had worked in the steel rolling mill for so many years and knew almost all the master craftsmen, he knew that they were more capable than him, and he only knew them through hearsay.

After all, every profession has its own secrets, and one's own understanding is certainly not as detailed and accurate as Liu Haizhong's.

The two prepared dinner, and then asked Yu Shui to call Liu Haizhong over. After they sat down, they ate, drank, and chatted.

He Yuzhu then asked about some of the more skilled lathe operators in the steel rolling mill.

If I go directly to Director Yang, I don't know who he can recommend. I should do some investigation first to ensure things go smoothly.

While drinking and chatting, Liu Haizhong explained the situation to He Yuzhu.

The steel rolling mill has many experienced masters, each with their own unique skills. They can all talk about what each person is good at, their temperament and personality, and how they treat their apprentices.

He Daqing knew some of these things, and he didn't know others. He nodded repeatedly as he listened.

Finally, Liu Haizhong said, "I'll recommend someone to you. We all call him Lao Ding, but his real name is Ding Guangtai. He has a good temper, is skilled, and is very serious about teaching his apprentices."

After mentioning Ding Guangtai, it was then said that the other individuals were also quite suitable to be teachers.

He Yuzhu was satisfied and eagerly urged Liu Haizhong to drink and eat, and the host and guests enjoyed themselves immensely.

He took the already drunk Liu Haizhong to his home in the backyard. He Yuzhu had just returned when he heard Liu Guangtian crying in the backyard.

Then there was a commotion in the backyard. A few minutes later, Liu Guangtian came running from the backyard, gave He Yuzhu a resentful look, and then rushed out.

He Yuzhu shook his head helplessly. He had only treated Liu Haizhong to a drink; he hadn't asked him to beat up Liu Guangqi. Why should he take his anger out on him?

Liu Guangqi ran out, and the sounds of beating and cursing rang out again in the backyard. Liu Guangtian ran out, so the one beating behind him could only be the third brother, Liu Guangfu.

Liu Guangfu was still young, unlike the second son who had plenty of experience and knew to run away. After half a day, he still hadn't managed to escape and obediently took a beating.

He Yushui threatened her younger brother He Yutang, saying, "Did you hear that? If you misbehave in the future, I'll hit you like this too."

He Yutang was so frightened that he burrowed into his mother's arms and said, "I'm the most obedient. Auntie is the disobedient one. Hit Auntie."

He Yushui pretended to hit him, which frightened He Yutang so much that he screamed.

He Yuzhu watched with amusement.

The next day, Liu Haizhong was on his way to work when he ran into Yi Zhonghai, who was sitting by the roadside. Yi Zhonghai saw him and came over to greet him.

"Is there something wrong with that old man?"

Yi Zhonghai said, "I have something I want to talk to you about."

"What's the matter? Let's talk as we walk."

The two became sworn brothers and went to work together. Then Yi Zhonghai asked, "What did Sha Zhu want to talk to you about yesterday?"

"You're asking about this?"

"Yes, he asked me too, but I don't know what he's trying to do."

"It's nothing, we just found more than 20 lathes on the street and we want to set up a machine shop and find a few lathe operators."

Compared to He Yuzhu, Liu Haizhong could sit with Yi Zhonghai, so he didn't hide anything from He Yuzhu and told him everything that happened yesterday.

Yi Zhonghai was somewhat surprised when he heard this. He hadn't expected that the street would want to open a machinery factory and even try to poach workers from the steel rolling mill.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head: should I sabotage He Yuzhu's plans?

Chapter 256

As for how to sabotage He Yuzhu's plans, Yi Zhonghai also had an idea in mind. The most direct way was to persuade the steel rolling mill not to send any workers to them.

I thought about it and realized that this method was unreliable.

He Yuzhu had a good relationship with the factory director and had enough influence. As long as he asked, Director Yang would usually agree to send a master craftsman over.

Since this method doesn't work, we have to think of other ways.

He came to the factory with Liu Haizhong, but he was somewhat distracted at work and kept thinking about how to cause trouble.

After much thought, he finally came up with a solution: to cut off the source of the problem by bringing over those machine tools.

Although experts have come to assist in the construction of the Eighteen Arhats, the country is currently engaged in large-scale construction and lacks the capacity to produce machine tools.

The most scarce resource now is machine tools, many of which are outdated models, almost all of which were imported before the liberation, and some are twenty or thirty years old.

The steel rolling mill has expanded its scale and now doesn't have enough machine tools.

After thinking for a moment, he found the workshop director and said, "Director, are we short of machine tools?"

"Isn't that obvious? Everyone needs machine tools. We've been given so many production tasks, but we can't even meet the planned progress every day."

The workshop foreman then asked, "Old Yi, why are you bringing this up?"

Yi Zhonghai said, "I heard that more than 20 machine tools have been brought to the street, but they don't have any lathe operators and they're just sitting there idle. Is it possible for our factory to get them?"

This was Yi Zhonghai's plan. Although He Yuzhu was the one who invited the lathe operators, the owners of those machine tools were just ordinary people from the street, and their words didn't carry much weight.

They were thinking of having the factory step in and discuss with the neighborhood committee to buy all those lathes, which would put He Yuzhu's plan on fall through.

The workshop foreman was surprised and asked, "You said there are more than 20 lathes on the street?"

"Yes, they are all second-hand lathes imported from northern countries."

Yi Zhonghai briefly explained the idea of ​​setting up a machinery factory on the street, emphasizing that they had no workers and all their equipment was idle.

Yi Zhonghai knew that the workshop director was one of Deputy Factory Director Li's men, and that He Yuzhu and Factory Director Yang had a good relationship and were in the same faction.

Everyone in the factory knew that Deputy Factory Director Li and Factory Director Yang didn't get along, so telling the workshop director meant for him to go see Deputy Factory Director Li Huaide.

If Deputy Factory Director Li can get the lathe into the factory, that would be a great achievement; if he can't, it would only annoy He Yuzhu and cause him trouble.

After listening to the detailed explanation, the workshop director said, "Since the ownership of those lathes is held by the street authorities, there's no way I can get them."

Yi Zhonghai said, "I was just saying this casually. If we can't handle it, then let it go."

Yi Zhonghai went back to work, while the workshop director returned to his office, thought about it for a while, and then turned around and went to the main office building.

After reporting the matter to Li Huaide, Li Huaide sent the workshop director back.

Then he turned around and took his secretary to the Fifth District Government.

Li Huaide's brother-in-law is a deputy leader, and he wants to use this connection to get his hands on the lathe on the street.

After He Yuzhu got the information from Liu Haizhong, he called Director Yang's secretary, but the person who answered the phone was not Secretary Zhang, but an ordinary office worker.

"What? You mean Director Yang and his secretary went for training together?"

"Yes, they've been gone for three days. Right now, Deputy Factory Director Nie is in charge of the daily operations. Is there anything I can help you with?"

He Yuzhu asked, "When will Factory Director Yang be back?"